Cookie swap: an exchange of memories and delectable treats between family and friends - includes related articles and 11 cookie recipes

Vegetarian Times, Dec, 1997 by Nancy Ross Ryan

An exchange of memories and delectable treats between family and friends.

Feeling frantic as the holidays approach? So much to accomplish in so few days? For many, the answer to the annual dilemma of spending too much money and too little time with those you love lies in the holiday cookie exchange--a tradition that originated at Wellesley College in Massachusetts in 1970 and is still going strong today. Melanie Barnard, food columnist and cookbook author, was one of three Wellesley students who developed this wonderful concept.

As Barnard says, "Anyone can do it anywhere. We were young students, not wealthy, all neighbors, and we began the cookie exchange as a way to get together during the holidays. "Here's how it works: The hostess provides coffee and dessert. Each guest brings a big batch of cookies--enough for everyone (usually three dozen is ample)--and, if the cookies are homemade, copies of the recipe. The cookies are placed on trays provided by the hostess and everyone tells what Barnard calls "a short story about their cookie offering--why they chose it, why they like it and why it's special to them." At the end, each person goes home with a bag, plate or box (which they brought empty) full of an assortment of all but their own cookies.

"The cookie exchange is not just for good cooks," says Barnard. "Some of our guests were great bakers, some were not, and some didn't bake at all. But they might drive for miles to a certain bakery to purchase a special cookie for the exchange. Some baked a new recipe every year, and some baked the same cookie every year."

Over the years the Wellesley cookie exchange has become quite famous. It's such a simple way to spend a few precious hours with loved ones that I'm planning to start my own holiday cookie exchange this year. The cookie I'm going to bake is one of my favorites, and the story I will share is this: Every Christmas my mother and father would take me to visit my favorite Aunt Thelma who lived not too far away from us in Maryland. One of my earliest memories is of walking into her house and smelling something indescribably delicious.

I asked what it was. "Sand tarts," Aunt Thelma replied, "cookies with sand on top of them." Of course, I protested that cookies don't have sand on them. "These do," she said. Come and see." Sure enough, there on the kitchen table were plates of sandy cookies served with an almond in their centers. "Try one," she urged. I wrinkled my nose and made a face. "No, really, try one," she said. "This isn't your everyday sand." I told her it looked like sand. "But it doesn't taste like sand," she assured me, "because the elves baked these cookies." So I gave in, and it was love at first bite.

The following is a collection of my favorite holiday cookies, including Aunt Thelma's Sand Tart recipe. I hope you find one or more recipes that you would like to share with your family and friends--after all, aren't the holidays all about swapping good things and creating good times.

Pfeffernusse (Peppernuts)

MAKES 64 COOKIES OVO-LACTO

The name comes from the fact that these cookies are small, brown crunchy-spicy tidbits about the size of nuts. Black or white pepper is an essential ingredient in these delicious traditional German Christmas cookies, which, along with cardamom, cinnamon and allspice, conveys a heavenly, spicy flavor.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cardamom
(see glossary)
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter or
margarine, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbs. molasses (not blackstrap)
1/2 cup finely chopped blanched
almonds

Add coconut-rum mixture to sugar all at once. (It will sputter, but not splatter.) Stir over medium heat until well-blended. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature in bowl of cold water. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

Put confectioners' sugar into small bowl. Remove mixture from refrigerator and stir to mix. Scoop level tablespoonfuls of dough into one hand. Dip fingers of other hand into cool water and roll mixture into compact ball. Drop ball into confectioners' sugar and toss to coat. Place on wire rack to dry. Repeat with remaining mixture. Allow coconut rum balls to dry for an hour. (Store cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 1 week.)

PER COOKIE: 63 CAL.; 1G PROT.; 3G TOTAL FAT (2G SAT. FAT); 7G CARB.; 0 CHOL.; 6MG SOD.; 0 FIBER.

Cardamom Shortbread

MAKES 32 COOKIES LACTO

These melt-in-the-mouth treats are flavored with cardamom, an aromatic spice with a spicy-sweet flavor. Be sure to use fresh cardamom--it makes a world of difference.

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter,
softened
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose
flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry
flour
2 tsp. ground cardamom
(see glossary)
1/2 tsp. salt

PER COOKIE: 116 CAL.; 1G PROT.; 4G TOTAL FAT (3G SAT. FAT); 18G CARB.; 20MG CHOL.; 94MG SOD.; 0 FIBER.